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New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley

If the ladies could shoot, we'd be blowing UVA out right now, especially with forcing the Cavaliers into 9 1st quarter turnovers. But, we are are only putting in 25% of our shots, so Virginia has a 2 point lead, 9-7.

Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

When we were discussing how good (or not) Duke should be right now considering the recruiting pedigree of our players, I looked at all the top teams to see how many top 10/top 20 recruits they had on their rosters. I noticed that Notre Dame had just one top 10 and one other top 20 recruit (along with four other top 40 recruits, and three other top 75, so it's not like the cupboard is completely bare). I wondered how a team with so few top top recruits could be #1 in the country, and assumed it just showed how good a coach Muffet McGraw is, but maybe the answer is they're just not as good as they have been and talent is at least as important (if not more important) in women's hoops than coaching.

After this season, Notre Dame loses a #10 and a #24 (seniors) and gain a #4 and a #21 (freshmen), which means they'll probably be about the same next year or maybe a little worse yet (since presumably seniors are much better than freshmen of similar ranking).

I think you incorrectly viewed the recruiting rankings for Notre Dame players. Among the starting lineup, ND has four seniors and one junior, whose rankings I will post below

ND's biggest this problem this year is shooting, outside of Mabrey. Ogunbuwale and Young can be inconsistent from distance. And there is not enough spacing with Turner and Shepherd as there was with Kathryn Westbeld at the four last season.

I think you incorrectly viewed the recruiting rankings for Notre Dame players.

Thanks for going into the detail on this. I used ESPN for the rankings I reported. For Ogunbowale, Mabrey, and Young, that corresponds to CGBR. For 2019, ESPN has Brunelle #4 and Peoples #21, which were the numbers I used.

I haven't watched Notre Dame at all this year. I forgot that Brianna Turner redshirted (thought she graduated last year) and didn't realize Shepherd was the same highly regarded recruit from Nebraska. So with that in mind you are absolutely right that I undersold what Notre Dame has on the team this year.

Next year, though, I don't think I undersold, unless they have another highly regarded transfer. They'll have "just" Young, Brunelle, and Peoples who were ranked in the top 25 coming out of high school. I guess we'll see how they do.

Having admitted all that, my original point was that great college women's basketball teams are filled with top 10 talent. Realizing I was wrong about what Notre Dame has this year only reinforces that point.

ND's biggest this problem this year is shooting, outside of Mabrey. Ogunbuwale and Young can be inconsistent from distance. And there is not enough spacing with Turner and Shepherd as there was with Kathryn Westbeld at the four last season.

Having admitted all that, my original point was that great college women's basketball teams are filled with top 10 talent. Realizing I was wrong about what Notre Dame has this year only reinforces that point.

Notre Dame has four of the same five starters as last year. Turner missed the year with her injury. Kathryn Westbeld was the fifth starter last year. I will post her recruiting rankings as well.

Is the team great because the team won the national title? Is it great because the team overcame four ACL/season-ending injuries to do so?

Or was this simply a very, very good team who maximized the talent level and matchups to win the national title, but is not one of the all-time "great" WCBB teams?

In other words, could you provide a bit more information about what constitutes a "great" women's basketball team? I think it would make for an interesting discussion.

Yes, I think a 35-3/15-1 ACC team is a great team, even before the national championship. The talent they had confirms that, at least to me. It would have even been greater if their injured players had been healthy.

Obviously after their injuries, the team didn't have any depth. And even with their talent, it was amazing to me that they did what they did after all those injuries. Most teams can't.

 Haley Gorecki is the only player in the ACC to rank in the top 15 in all four categories (points, rebounds, steals and assists) and one of three in power five conferences to rank in the top 15 in all four categories in her conference (Bridget Carleton of Iowa State, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon).

 Haley Gorecki has averaged 21.4 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.2 steals over the last five games. Gorecki notched four straight double-doubles with one also being a triple-double. She was the first Duke player to notch four straight double-doubles since Azura Stevens in 2015-16.

 Haley Gorecki is averaging 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 4.0 steals on the season against ranked opponents. She had a season-high 26 points against Syracuse. Gorecki is the only ACC player to boast an average of 20.0 points and 6.0 rebounds against ranked opponents.

 Leaonna Odom owns 913 points over her career and needs 87 points to become the 34th Duke player to reach the 1,000-point mark.

 In 11 ACC games, Jade Williams is averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds, while shooting 48.3 percent from the floor and 72.7 percent from the line (in addition to making her only three-point attempt).

Yes, I think a 35-3/15-1 ACC team is a great team, even before the national championship. The talent they had confirms that, at least to me. It would have even been greater if their injured players had been healthy.

Obviously after their injuries, the team didn't have any depth. And even with their talent, it was amazing to me that they did what they did after all those injuries. Most teams can't.

This is why, for some, the ND season has been disappointing, relative to expectations.

Notre Dame returned four starters from the national championship team and added former ACC POY Brianna Turner, who returned from injury. The team also added a top ten recruiting class.

This year, however, Notre Dame is 22-3. After going 77-3 in ACC regular season games in the five previous years, the Irish have two ACC regular season losses for the first time.

Now, Notre Dame is #1 in RPI, in large part because of the strength of the team's schedule;

So even returning 80 percent of the starting lineup, adding a former ACC POY, and adding a top ten returning class has not prevented this ND team from having ACC regular season losses than in any other year. As I mentioned before, ND's biggest this problem this year is shooting, outside of Mabrey. Ogunbuwale and Young can be inconsistent from distance. And there is not enough spacing with Turner and Shepherd as there was with Kathryn Westbeld at the four last season. I made this comment in the preseason, as I thought this could be a problem.

But in speaking with Rob Clough, he commented that Notre Dame was more like the Boston Celtics this year -- plenty of talent, but not figuring out a way to make it all work to be as dominant as one might expect relative to talent. Talent gets you very far in WBB, but chemistry and "basketball fit" are very important and the difference-makers when teams get to the NCAA Tournament's later rounds.